Cookie handling for fetch in Node.js - small CookieJar plugin for Luminara

[miller-28]

Body

Hi everyone,

For anyone building on top of fetch in Node.js or server side environments and struggling with cookies, I released a small plugin that might help.

In the browser, cookies are handled for you.
On the server, if you use fetch (Node 18+ or undici), you need to:

• capture Set-Cookie headers
• store cookies in a jar
• send the correct Cookie header per request
• keep behavior consistent across retries, hedging, and multiple clients

I built luminara-cookie-jar, a CookieJar plugin for my HTTP client Luminara, to solve this in a clean way using tough-cookie.

Key points:

• automatic Set-Cookie capture on responses
• automatic Cookie injection on requests
• shared jars across multiple clients when needed
• full CookieJar API exposed via client.jar for advanced use
• integrates with retries, hedging, timeouts and stats in Luminara

Minimal example:

import { createLuminara } from "luminara";
import { cookieJarPlugin } from "luminara-cookie-jar";

const client = createLuminara({
  baseURL: "https://api.example.com",
  plugins: [cookieJarPlugin()]
});

// login - cookies stored automatically
await client.post("/login", { username: "user", password: "pass" });

// cookies are sent automatically on the next call
const profile = await client.get("/profile");

// direct access to the jar if needed
console.log(await client.jar.getCookies("https://api.example.com"));

Repo: https://github.com/miller-28/luminara-cookie-jar
npm: https://www.npmjs.com/package/luminara-cookie-jar

If you are using fetch on the server and need browser-like cookie behavior, this might be useful.

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[andriiafanasiev]

This is a neat plugin for Node.js fetch users! It handles cookies automatically on the server—capturing Set-Cookie headers, injecting Cookie headers on requests, and sharing jars across clients. It keeps behavior consistent across retries and integrates with your Luminara client. If you use fetch server-side and need browser-like cookie handling, this could save a lot of boilerplate.

[Sabari-Vasan-SM]

When using fetch in Node.js (Node 18+/undici), cookies are not handled automatically like they are in the browser. You have to manually read Set-Cookie headers, store them somewhere, and attach the correct Cookie header on every subsequent request.

To simplify this workflow, I built luminara-cookie-jar, a plugin for the Luminara HTTP client that integrates a full CookieJar (powered by tough-cookie).

The plugin provides:

Automatic cookie capture from responses (Set-Cookie)

Automatic cookie injection into outgoing requests

A shared cookie jar across multiple clients if needed

A full CookieJar API via client.jar

Compatibility with retries, hedging, timeouts, and stats built into Luminara

This allows server-side fetch to behave much closer to a browser environment regarding cookie management.

[enzox0]

If you’re using server-side "fetch" and need browser-style cookie handling, this plugin automates the whole process. "luminara-cookie-jar" captures "Set-Cookie" headers, stores them with Tough-Cookie, and injects the correct cookies on every request working seamlessly with Luminara’s retries, hedging, and multi-client setups. It’s a simple way to get full cookie-jar behavior without manual boilerplate.